Christmas Eve - it is finally here. I had a day yesterday where I got to do everything I wanted to do and a couple of bonus moments. But the picture I chose for today relates to something I hope to involve in my future holidays. "The City of Lights" display in St Augustine, FL. It came to mind as I drove to my cousin's last night and saw great lights in Thomaston and Watertown (they don't touch St Augustine, but...). I don't know why the lights have gotten my attention this year, but they have. But St Augustine is a great place to be at any time of the year but especially between Thanksgiving and Feb 1. I was lucky that my son chose to go to college there and I drove down from NC many times - probably too many in his mind, but he did not complain. I had a school side hotel of choice and a beach side hotel of choice. I also have a hotel that at some point in my life I want to stay at - CASA MONICA. My son and I had our Thanksgiving Dinner there one year and I would love to stay there. St Augustine, Casa Monica, Flagler College, The Fountain of Youth, the intercoastal waterway, the historic downtown - I loved it! I don't know if my son feels going to college there was the best, but I certainly enjoyed his college years. From the low country of SC, onto the causeway leading into Jacksonville, driving into St Augustine - it just made me feel good with its beauty.
But back to CT. Yesterday I went in to my parents' house - sister #5 and my brother were already there by the time I got there. Sister #4 arrived shortly after. Sister #3 called and wanted to know why she was not "invited"? Invited to clean the house?...not anything I would think of inviting people to. Cleaned a bit, watched my sister set up "entertainment centers" for "the kids". Of course "the kids" are now 13 to 23 so it meant setting up a DVD player on one of father's TVS and the VCR on the other. DVD player for "Scene It" game and the VCR for old home movies that my father had processed from film to videotape and now has to consider taking it to DVD - we are going to ask my son about that. Adding dialog and sound? We will see. Scene It replaces Apples to Apples - we have to have some kind of competive activity after eating. Our only guests are the family of the son of one of my parents' dearest friends. Parents have both passed away and his siblings living in Alaska so he is left to carry on the tradition that has gone on for 40+ years if not longer. The father was our hometown doctor forever and his son is now a minister. So the company part of Christmas Eve will be over when he and the group need to move to church - usually around 6-7 p.m. The thought is sister #4 and I will go to 10 p.m. "midnight" mass, but we will see.
But back to yesterday. We all stayed around until about 4 p.m., then I headed home to go to church and then headed down to see my cousin. We took a walk to downtown Watertown and went to an ice cream/coffee shop of a friend of hers and were treated to hot chocolate with Kahlua! What a nice way to end the day. We sat on the comfortable couch for awhile, walked back to her house and then I headed back home. Perfect end to the day AND the Christmas lights on the way down and back to her house were worth the ride. And the other benefit of being on the road was I could listen to college football on the way down and the NFL game on the way home on the radio. Since I disconnected my cable package with ESPN when my son left for college in 2001...radio is my friend for a lot of the games these days.
I am on Bobby Knight record watch, poor Arnold breaks his leg skiing (he still stays on my sports rather than political radar), AI gets a standing ovation in Denver, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the NY Giants get a Christmas present of a win this weekend.
This is a weak time for TV with reruns or holiday shows, so after my bath last night I tuned into a panel discussion on CSPAN with Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, and Linda Wertheimer. Very interesting discussion.
Woke up a bit earlier this a.m. My goal is to get a walk in and then head into the parents'. Don't know what time the Brooklyn NY car will arrive (with my son) but I think if I get there by noon I will be fine. The "party" starts at 4 p.m.
Have a Merry Christmas.
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